Someone Was About to Get a Beating

"Grandpa Guang Ling?"

"Xiao Yue'er?"

They spoke almost simultaneously.

Qian Renyue turned toward the direction Guang Ling had come from. Flying at breakneck speed, Guang Ling immediately stopped when he caught sight of that flash of red. They faced each other beneath the blue firmament, forming a rather unusual portrait of two figures.

Once Guang Ling confirmed that the person before him was Qian Renyue, surprise flickered in his eyes. He clearly had not expected to meet her here.

She had come from the direction of Sunset Forest. Had the girl gone there?

His brows drew together slightly, and he looked rather displeased.

"Grandpa Guang Ling, what are you doing here?"

Qian Renyue noticed his displeasure as well. She spoke first, intending to seize the initiative. After all, most of his current unhappiness was probably because he had guessed that she had gone to Sunset Forest alone and misunderstood the situation.

"What's so unusual about me being here? You're the one who should explain yourself, girl. What are you doing here?" Guang Ling did not take her bait. He knew perfectly well what he wanted to ask. Still, her aura really had changed somewhat since before. Had she completed the God of Kindness's First Trial?

His eyebrow lifted slightly, and a little surprise stirred within him.

Seeing that she could not fool him, Qian Renyue decided not to hide anything. After all, he was the benefactor who had saved her life and given her a second chance at living.

She ought to be a little more courteous to her savior. "I went to Sunset Forest to take a look at that fifty-thousand-year Netherworld Flower Emperor. I wanted to take him down today, but I wasn't strong enough, so now I'm heading back to Heaven Dou City to participate in team battles."

"You didn't take him down?" Guang Ling tilted his head. Then why had her aura changed?

He studied Qian Renyue, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Little girl, has your External Soul Bone evolved?"

"Huh?" Qian Renyue blinked and glanced back at her wings. "No."

After absorbing those two immortal herbs, the only change Qian Renyue had noticed was in the Magic Treasure in her hand. If her External Soul Bone had changed, how could she possibly not know?

"I remember that it didn't look like this when you showed me your External Soul Bone that day." Guang Ling could not have been more familiar with the Ice Crystal Phoenix's wings. He had chased the little phoenix for tens of thousands of miles back then. Whether it was their structure or their coloring, he could recognize them at a glance. The External Soul Bone had not changed much, but there was one very obvious difference: a phoenix marking had appeared on its wings. Those white lines had not been there even when he was chasing the little phoenix.

"Really?"

Doubt stirred in Qian Renyue's heart. She could hardly detach the External Soul Bone growing from her back to inspect it now, so she could only ask the little phoenix hiding inside her through her thoughts.

The little phoenix held nothing back in front of Qian Renyue and Guang Ling. It said bluntly, "He's right!"

A milky, childish voice emerged from within Qian Renyue. When Guang Ling heard it, his expression looked as though he had seen a ghost. He stared at her without daring to relax his vigilance for a moment. "Girl, was that you speaking?"

He asked.

"?"

Qian Renyue found it rather strange that Guang Ling could hear the little phoenix. She frowned at him. "You... can hear it too?"

Too?

Guang Ling said, "You mean that wasn't you speaking?"

"No..." Qian Renyue pressed her lips together and shook her head. She lowered her gaze, her expression somewhat strange.

Why can Guang Ling hear you talking too, you little thing?

She asked inwardly.

"Well, um..."

The little phoenix sounded a little guilty, but hearing it speak again only deepened Guang Ling's suspicions.

"..."

The two hovered among the clouds. Considering another possibility, Guang Ling began to regard Qian Renyue with suspicion. He suddenly summoned the Light Feather Divine Bow and whipped it against her neck. Qian Renyue froze for a moment, staring at him in disbelief. Powerful icy auras radiated from both of them. Guang Ling's eyes tightened slightly; he was clearly beginning to doubt whether the girl before him was real.

It was already unusual for Qian Renyue to appear here. How could her aura and External Soul Bone have changed so quickly in little more than a month?

Besides, how could another voice possibly emerge from inside her?

Was all of this an illusion?

As a Titled Douluo, Guang Ling could clearly sense that the voice had come from the Qian Renyue before him. Moreover, on his journey to the Far North, he really had encountered a soul beast capable of trapping people in illusions. Encountering one again on his return journey was entirely plausible.

"Grandpa Guang Ling, what are you doing?"

Recovering from her astonishment, Qian Renyue looked at the Light Feather Divine Bow pressed against her neck. She simply could not understand why Guang Ling would suddenly attack her.

Could he not be Guang Ling?

Frost began forming on her neck. Qian Renyue's brows knitted slightly as she felt the chill seep into her marrow. In an instant, her bones felt as though they had frozen solid. Waves of ravenous pain relentlessly assailed her mind. Before long, ice covered her right shoulder. Beneath the pale blue crystals, crimson blood bloomed like poppies. The pain concealed within the ice made her body tremble involuntarily. Her lips slowly parted, and her brows furrowed so deeply that they nearly formed three vertical lines. Even the breath she exhaled was now filled with cold.

Seeing Qian Renyue in such agony, Guang Ling felt a pang of compassion. He instinctively reined in the soul power he was releasing. He had never expected the little girl in this illusion to make no attempt to evade his attack. Besides, she...

The aura radiating from her pink right eye prevented the frost from spreading farther. At that moment, Guang Ling suddenly became uncertain again. Just then, the Ice Crystal Phoenix sensed that its master's life had inexplicably fallen into danger. Alarmed, it hurriedly stirred its ten-thousand-year soul power within Qian Renyue. Bang-

A black Soul Ring appeared beneath Qian Renyue's feet. Caught off guard, Guang Ling was blasted nearly a hundred meters away. He steadied himself and frowned slightly. When he looked toward Qian Renyue again, he discovered the phantom of an Ice Crystal Phoenix behind her. The phantom hovered in the air like a richly colored ink painting. The clouds around them frosted over beneath the icy auras they released. Kraa, kraa-

The Ice Crystal Phoenix threw back its head and cried out, glaring fiercely at Guang Ling, its blue eyes filled with fury.

Guang Ling thought it was about to attack him and had even released his Soul Rings. Who could have imagined that it would instead open its mouth and curse him the next instant? "What the hell are you doing, you old show-off? Your eyes don't work, but is your heart blind too? She's my master! Didn't you chase me for three days and three nights precisely so I could become her Soul Ring?"

Little phoenix?!

Soul Ring?!

Guang Ling's heart lurched, his pupils trembling slightly. He instantly withdrew the Light Feather Divine Bow and flew toward Qian Renyue. "Yue'er!"

"What an idiotic show-off!"

Guang Ling caught Qian Renyue in his arms, and the Ice Crystal Phoenix slipped back inside her. As it treated its master's internal injuries, it continued to berate him. "Don't tell me you suspected my master was a bad person just because you could hear me talking?"

"Yue'er..."

The Ice Crystal Phoenix had hit the nail on the head. Guang Ling wanted to curse back, but the voice was coming from Qian Renyue's body. Despite his irritation, he held his tongue.

Guang Ling looked at Qian Renyue, his eyes filled with anguish. He did not know why he had started doubting her. Had his recent journey to the Far North made him overly sensitive?

Qian Renyue slowly closed her eyes and lay quietly in Guang Ling's arms. A pale blue light shimmered around her body-the Ice Crystal Phoenix's aura.

How could a soul beast that had already sacrificed itself still possess an independent consciousness?

Guang Ling could not understand it.

Countless tangled emotions took root in his heart. He held Qian Renyue tightly, consumed by guilt.

She was the little doll he had cradled in his palms, yet in the end, he had been the one to drive a cruel blade into her... Guang Ling barely dared to face her. He took flight with Qian Renyue in his arms, traveling as quickly as possible while composing an explanation for what had just happened. During the time she lay unconscious, the little phoenix also explained why he could hear it speak. Once he understood the reason, Guang Ling's face darkened. If that damned phoenix had not been inside Qian Renyue's body, he would definitely have turned it into an ice sculpture-one that would never melt!

"Hey, this was your own problem. Why are you glaring daggers at me?"

Guang Ling's resentment was so intense that even the Ice Crystal Phoenix inside Qian Renyue could feel it.

"Don't you have a mouth? Couldn't you have said something sooner?" Guang Ling cursed through gritted teeth.

A few months earlier, while chasing the Ice Crystal Phoenix, he had accidentally come into close contact with this unusual soul beast, leaving a beast marking on his body. That marking was precisely why he could hear the little phoenix speak. He had not known that the little phoenix was such a special existence, much less that it was now residing within Qian Renyue in soul form. In his eighty or ninety years of life, this was the first time he had encountered anything like it. Coupled with the fact that he really had encountered such an illusion on his journey to the Far North, his momentary misunderstanding was understandable.

But was this little phoenix mute?

It knew perfectly well that he could hear it, yet it hadn't come out to explain anything. Did it really expect him to figure it out himself?

Guang Ling could not help rolling his eyes. Even if he had tried to figure it out himself, he never would have understood.

"How was I supposed to know you didn't know? You're a level ninety-six or ninety-seven Titled Douluo, you old show-off. Don't you even know this much?"

The little phoenix refused to back down either. It gave a soft huff, its milky childish voice sounding particularly adorable. But Guang Ling was in no mood to appreciate its cuteness. All he could think was that this little phoenix truly deserved a beating, yet there was nothing he could do about it.

With his belly full of pent-up anger, Guang Ling simply gave up trying to maintain appearances. "I've never seen it before! So what? What's embarrassing about that? Even Eldest Brother wouldn't necessarily know about such an unusual situation!"

"...Fine, you're ignorant, you're above it all, you're amazing. I'm not wasting any more breath arguing with you. Once Master wakes up, you'd better think carefully about how you'll explain hurting her!"

The little phoenix had seen people give up before, but never quite so shamelessly. It rolled its eyes at Guang Ling from inside Qian Renyue's dantian. Miraculously, Qian Renyue rolled her eyes in his arms as well. "..."

Guang Ling was both startled and furious.

He had thought his Xiao Yue'er had awakened, but it turned out-turned out that the Ice Crystal Phoenix inside her had merely rolled its eyes. "You damned phoenix, could you stop moving Yue'er's body whenever you please? Believe me, I'll beat you into a spicy phoenix head!"

Guang Ling issued a stern warning.

But the Ice Crystal Phoenix knew he could do nothing to it, so it retorted without a care, "I can't control Master's body. If her body moves along with me, that proves she thinks the same way I do. You show-off, just wait for Master's anger!"

"..."

Guang Ling's five fingers trembled slightly with fury. Had his well-defined hands not been holding Qian Renyue, they would certainly have clenched into fists by now. His face was darker than the night sky, yet he could do absolutely nothing to the Ice Crystal Phoenix.

Honestly, he really should not bicker so much with a phoenix, especially one that knew only how to hide inside Qian Renyue.

After calming the anger in his heart for a while, Guang Ling ground his back teeth. Someday, he would make it pay for every bit of anger he had endured today, without missing a single scrap!

Seeing that Guang Ling had stopped talking, the Ice Crystal Phoenix did not provoke him further.

It had expended far too much soul power treating Qian Renyue's internal injuries. If making that show-off angry had not been so entertaining, it would already have fallen asleep.

Now that the show-off was no longer bickering with it, it lost interest. Within two or three minutes, it sank into slumber.

After traveling day and night for roughly a day and a half, Guang Ling returned to Spirit Hall with Qian Renyue.

The sun was shining brightly. Early that morning, Demon Subduing Douluo had just awakened and was yawning in the courtyard when a white blur suddenly swept overhead. It carried frost with it, and when the frost fell onto his head, he could not help shivering.

"Why is Fifth Brother in such a hurry...?"

A moment later, an Azure Luan bird large enough to blot out the sky also flew over his head. "Third Brother is...?"

He looked up at the sky. Before he could finish speaking, his dear brother, Qian Jun Douluo, hurried toward Guang Ling Hall.

"Wait, Brother..."

Only then did Demon Subduing Douluo realize something was wrong. He immediately followed his elder brother, frowning as he asked, "Brother, what's going on?"

"Apparently, Fifth Brother accidentally injured Yueyue. Eldest Brother is already at Guang Ling Hall. I'm afraid Fifth Brother will get beaten, so I need to go hold Eldest Brother back."

"What?!"

"Fifth Brother actually dared to hurt Yueyue?!"

"Well, well! He must be tired of living! I'm going to give him a proper fight today!"

Qian Jun Douluo: "..."